EXERCISE: Writing As a Lifelong Skill (7)

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Sun, 04 Feb 2001 12:28:00 -0500

Let's take a look at some thoughts from Writing As a Lifelong Skill by Sanford Kaye, ISBN 0-534-22218-8

Up to Now: Your Writing History

And, last but not least in reviewing your history...

"C.  Confidence.  Writing experiences, reading habits, and your history as a student in general have shaped your method of composition and your confidence."

"Very few people are satisfied with their writing.  Some people do not even hope for much more than a sentence free of spelling or punctuation errors.  A majority of people have a generalized notion that their writing, while it works well enough, could be better: there must be ways to simplify the process, clarify the argument, or tighten the organization of a paper."

"But people often have a bleaker view of their own writing than their readers do.  We protest that what we have to say is not very interesting, or that the way we say it is not very compelling.  Yet, when looking for ideas and feelings, for information, inspiration, or argument, readers respond most enthusiastically to writing that struggles to say something meaningful in an authentic voice."

"Ultimately, in those parallel lines of dark ink on a white page, readers hope for contact with another human being, someone who feels something intensely, and who can express it powerfully.  That expectation, more than your earlier writing experiences, is the appropriate framework for increasing your confidence, and for developing writing as a lifelong skill."

So, how is your confidence?  Do you have something meaningful to say?  Do you try to say it powerfully?  Can you feel your reader responding?

EXERCISE: Writing As a Lifelong Skill (8)

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Tue, 06 Feb 2001 12:33:00 -0500

Let's take a look at some thoughts from Writing As a Lifelong Skill by Sanford Kaye, ISBN 0-534-22218-8

Okay.  Definition, attitude, your writing history.  And reflection on the issues of external and internal influences, how you balance correctness and expressiveness, and your confidence in reaching your readers.

But maybe in reading your history you noticed some other issues, some questions, some thoughts that you'd like to raise?  What troubles you in looking back at that history?  What makes you glad to have looked back?  What puzzles you about the long and winding road that leads to your writing?

And that's just the first exercise in the book!